KAZAKHSTAN TO INTRODUCE DEATH PENALTY FOR ATTACKS ON PRESIDENT?

The Kazakh government has drafted amendments to existing antiterrorism legislation that provide for stiffer punishment for involvement in and advocacy of terrorism, Sergei Zhalybin, the chairman of the parliament committee for legislation and court reform, as saying. Those amendments provide among other things for the imposition of the death penalty or life imprisonment for attempts to assassinate the president. Zhalybin said that bill was first submitted in July 2001 and thus is not a response to the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States. A second bill under consideration would require all adult citizens to submit to fingerprinting as part of the procedure for applying for identification documents, according to ITAR-TASS and ntvru.com on 10 January.